SMALL businesses in Scotland could save up to £8,000 on average each year simply by making energy efficiency improvements – and cut their annual energy consumption by a quarter.

That’s the message from Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Government, who announced this week a new ‘cashback’ scheme to help businesses in Scotland tackle rising energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint.

For a limited time only, eligible small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) applying for an interest-free, unsecured Scottish Government loan can receive 30% cashback on the value. That’s up to £10,000 in cashback on completion of their energy efficiency improvements.

Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, Paul Wheelhouse, announced the cashback incentive today during a visit to Goldenacre Mini Market in Edinburgh. The convenience store is among more than 300 businesses in Scotland to have benefitted from an SME Loan in the past five years.

The SME Loan scheme has seen nearly £10million invested in the Scottish small business community since 2013.

Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, said:
“Improving energy efficiency is one of the smartest ways that businesses in Scotland can hold onto their hard-earned profits and make a real difference to the bottom line.

“In addition to benefits for individual businesses, reducing the environmental impact of Scotland’s energy needs will bring us closer to the low carbon energy future set out in Scotland’s Energy Strategy – generating benefits for Scotland’s economy as well as the environment.

“This fund is part of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP), which will support buildings across Scotland – both domestic and non-domestic – to improve their energy efficiency rating over a 15-20 year period.
“We will be publishing a SEEP Routemap, later in 2018, to set out our long-term ambition for the Programme and make our commitment to this agenda clear, given the more than £500 million we have which earmarked to the programme over this term of Parliament.”